Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Engineer, of Cork. Denis Coffey, son of Thomas Coffey, proprietor of a drapery business at 41 Great George's (Washington) Street, Cork, was born in Cork circa 1896 and educated at the Christian Brothers' school on Sullivan's Quay and the Christian College, North Monastery. In 1913 he entered University College, Cork, where he gained a BE degree in 1916 and a B.Sc in 1918.(1) He taught at Cork Grammar School before joining the engineering services of Cork County Council and being appointed assistant county surveyor at Schull and later assistant to the county surveyor, RICHARD FRANCIS MARY O'CONNOR. I RICHARD FRANCIS MARY O'CONNOR. I n August 1930 he was appointed county surveyor of Cavan, where he remained until 1947. In April of that year he returned to Cork to take up the post of deputy county engineer for the south and east areas; he was one of the three deputies who managed the engineering business of the county during the absence of a county engineer between 1940 and 1958.. He was an expert on arterial drainage and was a member of the Drainage Commission. He died in office on 20 July 1955, survived by his wife, Eileen, two sons and three daughters.

ICEI: elected member, 1 Dec 1930.(2)

Address: 3 Sydneyville, Bellevue Park, Cork, at time of death.



References

All unreferenced information in this entry is from the obituaries of Coffey in IB 97, 30 Jul 1955, 791, and Cork Examiner, 21 Jul 1955 and from Brendan O'Donoghue, The Irish County Surveyors 1834-1944 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 131-2.

(1) Information from Virginia Teehan, College Archives, UCC.
(2) TICEI 57 (1930-31), 22.